I find myself craving the quiet existence I knew as a young girl. I remember coming home from school and working on a painting, or reading a book. I remember not having internet or television in college and spending time with friends, or in the art studio. I remember having my first full-time job and rushing home to put on sweats and work on a drawing or watch a movie, with no interruptions. But something happened between then and now. Life seems more rushed and busy, even though I’m “doing” way less. I never really knew what others did in their daily life and so my life was molded by my desires and what felt good to me. But lately, I keep having this repeated realization that life seems like a glass box now.

I feel like everyone knows what everyone else is doing, and I will be the first to admit that for the last couple of years, I’ve jumped on that bandwagon of sharing the parts of my life that I would want others to see. I used to post a daily yoga pose on Instagram; I took part in Goddess “challenges” online and even ended up getting a job from one of them. But while the past couple of years of my life have looked bright and shiny and full of hope, to my online following, I have tried to also post on days when I all I’ve gotten done is managing to get out of bed or times when all I wanted was to literally run away from everything.

“Everyone presents an edited version of life on social media. People share moments that reflect an ideal life, an ideal self. Hundreds of years ago, we sent letters by horseback, containing only what we wanted the recipient to read. Fifty years ago, we spoke via the telephone, sharing only the details that constructed the self we wanted reflected. With Instagram, one thing has changed: the amount we consume of one another's edited lives. Young women growing up on Instagram are spending a significant chunk of each day absorbing others' filtered images while they walk through their own realities, unfiltered.”

What does this mean, for us, as human who stare a screen most of the day? To me, it means checking myself that I not only share the good and that bad, but that I realize that Instagram and Facebook are more like pages from a magazine than real life. You’re probably wondering where I’m going with all of this…

I want to share with you the GOOD things that have happened to me through social media. The friends I’ve made and the connections that I’ve strengthened. The creativity that has met my eyes from this tiny little screen phone have been some of the most powerful images and words that I’ve heard my whole life. The women that I have found on this platform are women following their own hearts. They are creative, wild, gentle, loving and fierce. They say what they want and show what they do.

I feel like social media is like this web, and it’s either a sticky, messy, terrible web, or a soft web of creativity and communication. Depending on who you “follow” and what you “like”, you’re in one web or the other. And I am happy to say that this web that the internet has helped me create is such an inspiring one.

In fact, next week, I’ve got a very special announcement that’s filled with inspiration! Stay tuned!